Loaders for rapid loading of the cylinder of a revolver have been available for several years and all have in common some form of holder for releasably holding a number of cartridges equal in number to the chambers in the revolver cylinder, the principal of operation being that the cylinder may be quickly reloaded by simultaneous release of the cartridges from the holder, an expedient found to be significant in rapid firing of the revolver. Prior loaders predominantly use cylindrical holders having cylindrical chambers or bores from which the cartridges drop or are ejected from the interior of the cylinder. Typical of such prior loaders is the disclosure in the U.S. Pat. No. 1,946,171 to Pflaume.
The present invention provides a design that departs from prior designs by the utilization of a holder in which the cartridges are carried in a group of parallel flutes externally of and arranged in an annular pattern about the holder. Each flute is substantially semi-cylindrical and is so dimensioned relative to a receivable cartridge that only a very minor portion of the cartridge rim overhangs the top of the holder and is thus easily releasable from the holder upon outward actuation of a plurality of inwardly biased fingers, each of which extends downwardly alongside a cartridge. A simple plunger is manually operative to swing the fingers and thus to release the cartridges simultaneously into the chambers of the revolver cylinder. Further features of the invention reside in details of construction enabling the production and marketing of a simple and efficient loader that is easy to operate and is virtually fool-proof.
Other features and advantages of the invention will become apparent as a preferred embodiment of the invention is disclosed herein.